Buttonhole and ruffling gage for shears.



No. 818.288. Patented July 9, mot

E. a. swan. BUTTDNHOLE AND BUFF LING GAGE FOR SHEABS.

(Application filed In. 27, 1901.) (h Indol.)

WI TNE SSE S A TTOHNE Y8 m. ucna s Pz'rcn do, PMOTOUTHOV. WASHINGTON, a. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMMA L. N. STEEN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BUTTONHOLE AND RUFFLING GAGE FOR SHEARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 678,288, dated July 9, 1901.

Application filed March 27, 1901. Serial No. 53,079. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMMA L. NEVADA STEEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New-York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Buttonhole and Ruffling Gage for Shears, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a combined buttonhole and plaiting or ruffiing gage for shears, and a buttonhole-gage adapted for attachment to any buttonholeshears.

A further purpose of the invention is to so construct a combined buttonhole and plaiting and ruffling attachment to shears that when a strip of material is to be cut from a main web for plaiting or ruftling the strip will have an upper and a lower support and will be cut to a regular width either on the straight or onthe bias. I

Another feature of the invention is to provide a ready connection between the shears and the support for the gage and means for adjusting a guide-table upon the gage and adjusting said gage upon its support, and also to provide a buttonhole-gage which can be applied to any construction of buttonholescissors.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a pair of shears, parts being broken away, illustrating likewise in plan view the'combined buttonhole and ruffiing or plaiting gage and-its connection with the shears. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the shears, the gage being in transverse sec-, tion at a point near its outer end. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section through the gage and a section through that portion of the guide-table which travels on the gage. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a pair of button- 5o hole-scissors and the attachment applied thereto, and Fig. 5 is a partial front elevation and partial sectional view of the attachment which is applied to the buttonhole-scissors.

A represents a pair of buttonhole shears constructed in any suitable or approved mannor, except that, preferably, the blades of the shears A are connected by a pivot-pin 10, having a threaded body or stem and a suitable head. The stem or body of the pin passes through both blades, and at the projecting end of the body of the stem a nut is located, (indicated at 11,) so that by screwing the nut inward or outward more or less tension may be brought tobear on the blades. The nut 11 likewise serves to secure the attachment to the shears, as will be hereinafter described. Between the pivot-pin 10 and the handles of the shears a guide-pin 12 is secured to the blade, which is opposite the nut 11 on the pivot-pin 10, as is shown in Fig. 1.

The attachment consists, primarily, of an attaching and guide arm B and a gage 0, carried by the attaching and guide arm. This.

attaching and guide arm consists of a bifurcated inner end section 13, and the pivot-pin 10 and the guidepin 12 pass through the space between the members of the said bifur cated end portion of the guide-arm, as is illustrated in Fig. 2. This guide-arm is held to the shears by the nut 11 engaging with the outer side face of the bifurcated end portion of the arm.

In the further construction and formation of the said guide-arm B an outer or forward body-bar 14 is employed, which body-bar 14 is preferably straight, and this body-bar 14 is connected with the bifurcated inner end section 13 of the guide-arm by an intermediate section 15, the upper edge of which is usually about parallel with the under edge of the body-bar 14, as is best shown in Fig. 2, producing an upper shoulder 16 and a lower shoulder 17, and this intermediate drop-connecting section 15 serves to expose a portion of the recesses 18 made in the blades of buttonhole shears even when the blades are closed. The intermediate connecting-section 15 of the attaching and guide arm is ofiset to a greater or less extent outward from the shears, as is shown at 15 in Fig. 1, and through the medium of this oflset 15 a space intervenes the body-bar 14 and the side face of the blade adjacent to which it is located and with which it is in substantially parallel arrangement.

A sleeve 19 is held to slide on the body-bar B, and this sleeve carries a gage C, the gage being at a rightangle to the attaching or guide arm. This gage is a double gage and is preferably made of steel or other thin metal, and the material of the gage is bent upon itself at the outer end 22, forming an under member 20 and an upper member21, the said lower or under member 20 being secured to the said sleeve 19 at its inner end, while the inner end of the upper member 21 is free, as is best shown in Fig. 3. The upper member of the gage C is provided with a scale 23 upon its upper face, which scale reads in inches and fractions of an inch. A sleeve 24 is mounted to slide upon the gage C, embracing both members of the gage, and in order that the two members of the gage may beheld parallel yet spaced apart as the sleeve or slide 24 is moved along the gage the said sleeve or slide is provided with an intermediate regulating plate or partition 25, which enters the space between the members of the gage, as is also shown in Fig. 3. The sliding gagesleeve 24 is provided at that end which is opposite the shears or opposite the attaching or guide arm with an upwardly-extending point 26, and a guide-table 27 is attached to the slidinggage-sleeve 0, extending outward from the outer edge of the gage at right angles thereto. This table is provided with an offset outer section 28 at one longitudinal edge, forming a longitudinal shoulder 29 at the upper face of the said table, and the offset portion 28 of this table is that which is attached to the sleeve. The working face of the table is the upper face of the main section 27 and is so held that material placed on the upper face of the said main section will pass straight through the space between the members 20 and 21 of the gage. In order that the material may be held in position on said guidetable, an open-loop section 30 is formed at the outer longitudinal edge of the main section of the table at or near its forward end. This table is thereby designed to receive the web from which a strip is to be cut to form plaiting or ruffling. WVhen a strip is to be thus cut, the sliding sleeve 24 is adjusted on the gage C to bring the point 26 at the mark on the scale indicating the desired width of the strip. In the drawings, Fig. 1, this point is shown at the mark indicating two inches,so that when astrip is cut it will be two inches wide. The outer longitudinal edge of the web of the material from which the strip is to be cut is placed on the body-section of the table 27 and is passed within the loop 30 and through the space between the two members 20 and 21 of the gage to an engagement with the inner side face of the point 26. The blades of the shears are opened and the web of material is passed likewise between the cutting edges of the said blades.

It will be observed that that portion of the web of material from which the strip is to be out has both a top and a bottom support and that by simply operating the blades and advancing the shears and attachment a strip may be cut from the web of material that will be of uniform width and of any desired length.

When the device is to be used for gaging buttonholes, the distance between buttonholes is regulated by adjusting the sliding sleeve on the gage 0. Thus if the buttonholes are to be two inches apart the point 26 of the sliding sleeve 24 will be in the position shown in Fig. 1. The gage is then slid along the body of the attaching and guide arm to the rear portion thereof or until it strikes the shoulder 17, and the materialis laid upon the upper face of the gage in engagement with the inner face of the point 26 and is carried back the distance desired to cause the outer end of the cut forming the buttonhole to be the desired distance from the edge of the material in which the buttonhole is to be made. The material, of course, is passed between the blades of the shears, and as the blades of the shears are closed on the material the buttonhole is cut in the manner usual to buttonhole shears or scissors. After one buttonhole has been cut the material is slid outward and the point 26 is made to enter the said buttonhole. Thus the material will be held in proper position in the gage and the second buttonhole may be readily cut. The material is then again shifted outward, and the buttonhole last out is placed over the point 26, the point having been disconnected from the buttonhole which it formerly entered.

The length of the buttonhole may be regulated in any suitable manner--as, for example, by locating an adjusting-screw 33 at the handle portion of one of the blades of the shears or scissors bei ng adapted to engage with the inner edge of the opposing handle-section, as is shown in Fig. 4. The sleeve 24, which slides on the gage C, may be locked in its adjusted position by means of any approved locking device; but the locking device which is preferably employed consists of a finger 31, which is pivoted at the outer lower end portion of the sleeve 24 and is provided with an upward extension 32 at its upper edge to engage with one side of the gage, asshown in Fig. 2.

The device may be attached to any buttonhole scissors or shears, and when the attach-- ment is made the pivot-pin 10 (shown in Fig. 1) is substituted for the ordinary pivot of the blades, and especially when the device is applied to scissors the gage 0 (shown in Figs. 4 and 5) is made an integral portion of the guide-arm B, and this guide-arm B is provided also at its rear end with a bifurcated terminal, through which the pivot-pin 10 is passed. hen the attachment is thus made to a pair of scissors, the nut 11 is provided with a polygonal oflset at its bottom to enter IIO the space between the members of the bifurcated end of the guide-arm to prevent the said arm from turning, and when the nut 11 is so constructed the guide-pin 12 may be dispensed with.

The gage in the modified form of the device shown in Figs. 4 and 5 isprovided with a sliding sleeve 24*, corresponding to the sleeve 24 in the other views, but the guidetable 27 is omitted. This sleeve 24 is provided with an upwardly-extending point 26 corresponding to the point 26 in the other figures, and a locking device 31 is likewise employed in connection with the sleeve 24, corresponding to the locking device 31 heretofore mentioned. When the attachment is to be used for buttonholes only, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the gage G is made single instead of double, having only one member upon the upper face of which the scale is produced.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- I 1. A pair of shears or scissors having its pivot-pin projecting at one end, a guide-arm arranged at the outer side of one of the blades and having a bifurcated rear end through which the projecting end of the pivot-pin passes, the said guide=arm being free at its opposite end, means for detachably securing the guide-arm in position, and a gage movably mounted upon the guide-arm, substantially as described.

2. A pair of shears or scissors having a guide-arm attached at one end to the outer side of one of the shear-blades by the pivotpin of said blades, and free at its opposite end, a gage movably mounted upon the guidearm, a sliding sleeve on said gage and having an upwardly-extending point, and a locking device carried by the sleeve and engaging the gage to hold the sleeve in its adjusted position, substantially as set forth.

3. A pair of shears or scissors adapted for cutting buttonholes, a guide-arm detachably attached to the outer side of one of the blades, the said guide-arm having a bifurcated rear end'engaging the pivot of the shear or scissor blades, a gage mounted upon the guidearm, a gage-point movable upon said gage,

, and a pivoted locking device for the said point,

for the purpose set forth.

4. The combination, with a pair of shears or scissors adapted for cutting bnttonholes, of a guide-arm carried by one of the shear or scissor blades at the outer side thereof, the said gage consisting of upper and lower members adapted to receive material between them and give the said material an upper and a lower support, a sleeve mounted to slide upon the said gage, an upwardly-extended point carried by the gage, a table connected with the sleeve and extending forwardly therefrom parallel with the blade to which the said guide-arm is applied, and means for locking the said sleeve in position, as described.

5. The combination, with a pair of scissors or shears adapted for cutting buttonholes, of a guide-arm having a bifurcated rear end, a pivot-pin passed between the members of the said bifurcated rear end, a nut carried by said pivot-pin, engaging with the said bifurcated member of the said guide-arm, the opposite end of the guide-arm being free, a gage comprising an upper and a lower member, the lower member of the'gag'e being movably connected with the said guide arm, a sleeve mounted to slide on the said gage, a point extending upward from the inner end of the said sleeve, a locking device carried by the outer end of the said sleeve and adapted for engagement with the said gage, and a guidetable attached to the sleeve, mounted on the gage, which guide-table is parallel with the gnide arm and extends forwardly from the gage-bar at an angle thereto, as and for the purpose specified.

6. The combination with a pair of shears or scissors, of a guide-arm carried by one of the shear or scissor blades at the outer side thereof, a gage movably connected with said guide-arm, a sleeve mounted to slide upon the said gage, an upwardly-extended point carried by the gage, a table connected with the sleeve and extending forwardly therefrom parallel with the blade to which the guidearm is applied, and means for locking the said sleeve in position, as described.

7. The combination with a pair of shears or scissors, of a guide-arm having a bifurcated rear end, a pivot-pin for the shear or scissor blades and extending between the EMMA L. N. STEEN.

Witnesses:

J. FRED. AoKER, JNo. H. BITTER.

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